Thanksgiving: Day Five

Thanksgiving Crafts and Games

Read Thanksgiving Books and sing songs from the week.

Play Pin the feather on the turkey
Draw a picture of a featherless turkey on a large piece of poster board. Attach the picture to a wall. Put loops of masking tape (sticky sides out) on the backs of paper feathers and place the feathers on a table close to the turkey picture. Have the children take turns choosing a feather from the table and then closing their eyes while they try to "pin" the feather on the turkey.

"Gravy" Sensory Activity
Set out bowls (or a water table) with warm water, ladles, turkey basters, measuring cups, bowls, etc. Have your children stir, mix and cook the gravy (you can also die the water brown with bath tub tints for an added effect)

Popcorn Study

Pour unpopped popcorn into four different Ziploc gallon bags. Squirt a different color of paint into each bag. Have your children take turns squishing the popcorn and paint together in the bag. Once the popcorn is coated, lay it out to dry. While you wait for the popcorn to dry ask your children if they think the popcorn will stay colored once you pop it. Once the popcorn is dry pour it into an air popper and watch and see what happens. The popcorn will pop out fluffy white. You can use this popcorn for art or to fill your sensory table.

Indian Corn

Materials:

• Corn on the cob cut out
• Pop Corn
• Tempra paint powder
• Glue
• Corn husks

What to Do

• Pop some air popcorn; while it is still hot place it into three Ziploc bags. Add a different color of tempra paint powder into each bag. Shake the bags to spread the powder. Once the popcorn has cooled set it out to make Indian corn. Have your children put glue on the corn cutout and then stick the popcorn on. Once they are done staple real corn husks on. This makes beautiful Indian corn creations. (be sure to watch your children with the popcorn.)

Berry Painting

Materials:

• Fresh berries
• Paper

Directions:

• Before starting this activity show your children pictures of art created by Indians. Discuss how they used berries and other natural products to paint with. Set out berries and encourage your children to rub them across their paper to make pictures.

Macaroni Stringing

Dye macaroni and have your children string them onto a cord with colored pieces of paper, and beads to make a Thanksgiving day necklace. Encourage your children to form patterns to increase math skills.

Thanksgiving Drums

Use oatmeal tubs, one for each child. Cover the outside of the container with tan paper and have your children decorate with paint and feathers.

Thanksgiving: Day Four

Thanksgiving Feast

On Thanksgiving Day, let children help you with the food preparations. Read some books about the kinds of food that were eaten on the first Thanksgiving Day.

Make Place Cards for the dinner Table and set the table. Make sure to include a decorative centerpiece, maybe something the child has made this week, like the Good Deed Turkey.

Make Butter
Talk about how Pilgrims and Indians did not have a grocery store to buy butter. They made it from the cream that came from milking the cows. Give each child a baby food jar filled half full with whipping cream. Have them shake it until butter forms. Add salt. Use the butter on corn bread or rolls for the Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving Plates
On a paper plate, let your child glue pre-cut pictures of food (or color in their own food) in anticipation of the upcoming feast. Plan out what he will eat for Thanksgiving.

Sing
Thanksgiving Time (Farmer in the Dell)
Thanksgiving time is here,
Let's give a great big cheer,
For food and friends and family,
Thanksgiving time is here.


Let's be Thankful for this Day
(tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")

Let's be thankful for this day,
For our friends and our play.
Let's be thankful, let's be glad,
For our food and the things we have.
Let's give thanks for you and me,
And our home and family.

At the Thanksgiving Feast, go around the table and have everyone say what they are thankful for.

Pumpkin Pie
Paint a paper plate with orange
paint mixed with white glue.
Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice
(or cinnamon & allspice).

Thanksgiving Easel Painting

Materials:

• Paint (fall colors)
• Nutmeg
• Allspice
• Cinnamon
• Easel paper

What to Do

• Sprinkle a different spice into each color of paint. As your children paint the spices will mix together to make a yummy pumpkin pie smell.

Pumpkin Pie in a Bag
Click Here

Thanksgiving: Day Three

The History of Thanksgiving

Read books about the first Thanksgiving such as: Pilgrims First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern and Elroy Freem or This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story by Laura Krauss Melmed and Mark Buehner or The Story of the Pilgrims by H.L. Ross

Visit Scholastic for More Info on the First Thanksgiving
Click Here

Thanksgiving Feast Book
Click Here

Thanksgiving Crafts
Thanksgiving Coloring Pages: Click Here
Toilet Paper Roll Puppets: Click Here
Stick Puppets: Click Here
Cut and Paste Pages: Click Here

Thanksgiving Play
Make Native American and Pilgrim costumes and act out the first Thanksgiving

Native American Vests

Materials:

• White T shirts
• Tea
• Fabric markers

What to Do

• Cut the sleeves off of the t shirts and cut down the center to make a vest. Explain to your class that Native Americans used natural products to dye their clothing. Place the tea bags and hot water into a bucket and add the shirts. Stir the shirts around and let them soak. Hang to dry. The next day your children can use fabric markers to decorate their vests. You can also cut the bottom into strips and add beads. These are great to wear to a Thanksgiving fest.

(Another option is to make vests out of brown paper bags and decorate them with markers and paint.)

Native American Head Band
Click Here

Pilgrim Costumes
Click Here or

Thanksgiving: Day Two

Turkeys

Read 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey

A major part of Thanksgiving is the feast, and we usually have turkey.

Sing

I’m a Little Turkey

(to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot)

I’m a little turkey
Fluffy and brown (Rub Tummy)

My wings flip-flop
When I turn around (Flap arms)

I have lots of feathers,
On my back (Bend down and wave hands over back)

And a big orange beak (Use hands to clap)
That goes “click clack”

Did You Ever See a turkey

(to the tune of “Did you ever see a lassie”)
Did you ever see a turkey, a turkey, a turkey
As he struts around the farmyard with feathers so bright?

With red ones and brown ones and yellow ones and orange ones,
Did you ever see a turkey with feathers so bright?

*Reinforce color recognition with this song. In advance, cut out a class supply of red, brown, yellow, and orange construction paper feathers. Give each child one feather. As the class sings the song have each child hold up his feather when the color is mentioned.

Turkey Color Book
Click Here

Turkey Thanksgiving Cards
Make cards for friends and loved ones. Make several brown hand prints with the child; let dry. Cut out paper feathers and triangles for the beaks. Print out a small picture of the child and this Hand Turkey Poem: "This isn't just a turkey, as you can plainly see. I made it with my hand, which is a part of me. It comes with lots of love, especially to say: "I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!" Glue the handprints down for the turkeys, placing feathers behind. Draw on an eye with a black marker and add a beak. Glue the picture and poem on the card as well. Send out to loved ones!!!


More Turkey Crafts--
Make a few of these turkeys and use them for:

Five Turkeys
Five big turkeys sitting on the gate.
The first one said, "It's getting late."
The second one said, "Who goes
there"?
The third one said, "There are farmers
everywhere."
The fourth one said, "Let's run, run,
run."
The fifth one said, "It's just
Thanksgiving fun."

Then Gobble Gobble went the wind.
And out went the lights.
And the five fat turkeys were out of sight

Maple Leaf Turkey
Pine Cone and Feathers Turkey
Many, Many more ideas from DLTK!
Turkey Crafts from Making Learning Fun

Thanksgiving: Day One

I am Thankful...

Explain that Thanksgiving is a special holiday when we celebrate all the many things we are thankful for. We get together with family and friends, usually cook a big meal, and remember to give thanks.

Read some books about Thanksgiving, such as: Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland or Thanksgiving Day is Here by Diane Goode

Sing:
Thanksgiving Time (Farmer in the Dell)
Thanksgiving time is here,
Let's give a great big cheer,
For food and friends and family,
Thanksgiving time is here.

Thanksgiving

(to the tune of Are you sleeping)
Thanksgiving, thanksgiving
Time is here, time is here
Turkey’s on the table,
Turkey’s on the table,
Yum, yum, yum
Yum, yum, yum

Thankful Book
Print out this Thankful Book and assemble it. Go through it with your child, writing in his/her responses. Let child color pictures or cut out pictures from magazines to complete the ideas.

"Thank You" and "You're Welcome"
Talk with child about the importance of expressing thanks. Practice throughout the day/week with saying thank you and responding with "you're welcome."

Helping Hands do Good Deeds
Print out the body of this large turkey: one and two and display it somewhere in the house. Trace and cut out several copies of your child's handprint in fall-colored paper. Talk about doing nice things for the people we love to show how thankful we are for them. Each time throughout the week that your child does a good deed, he gets to put another hand feather on the turkey.

Cornucopia Thanksgiving Craft
Click Here

Thanksgiving Coloring Pages
Click Here

Sing
Let's be Thankful for this Day
(tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")

Let's be thankful for this day,
For our friends and our play.
Let's be thankful, let's be glad,
For our food and the things we have.
Let's give thanks for you and me,
And our home and family.

Thankful for my Family: Day Five

Family Day

Begin by discussing members of each child's family. You may even want students to draw a picture of his/her family for display on "Family Day."
Ask students to make an invitation to members of their family to come to a special "Family Day." Some suggestions include a breakfast, lunch, picnic (with games), or evening picnic.

On the day of the event, children can help make decorations and snacks for the party. When family members arrive, encourage children to introduce their family members to others.

Make this Family Handprint Craft
"My Family is special because...."

Thankful for my Family: Day Four

Let's Play Family

Sing "A Happy Family."

Read books about families.

Bring out family puppets you've made earlier in the week. Help children role play with different members, talking like them, doing the things they would do.

Have groups of small items such as rocks, sticks, pieces of string, or pasta. Tell children to play "family" with the items. Make a rock family, a stick family, etc.

Set up a Family Home living Area

Have clothes from different family member for children to dress up in.
You can add these items to your home living area. Make sure all bottles and boxes are empty and cleaned thoroughly.

plastic baby bottles, detergent bottles, dish soap bottles, hand soap bottles, cereal boxes, food boxes, aprons, hot pads, child safe utensils, potato masher, rolling pins, plastic cookie cutters, oven mittens, hand towels, wash cloths, shampoo bottles, baby soap bottles, cleaning spray bottles, dresses, clip on ties, scarves, shoes, bibs, baby spoons, etc.

Remind children that we all were once babies and came into a family. Read some books about babies, welcoming new babies into your family.

Mommy and Baby Animals

Directions:
Create a manila folder game for your children to enjoy. Glue pictures of mother animals onto the folder. Place baby animal cutouts in a baggie. Have your children take out a baby animal and match it to the mother.

Baby Care

Directions:
Put warm water in your sensory table with a little baby wash. Provide terry cloths, sponges, dolls, small empty bottles of baby shampoo, baby oil, towel, diaper and clothing. Discuss caring for babies, encouraging them to be gentle and keeping the head above water.

Baby Stuff vs. Big Stuff
Have items for babies and items for older children to be sorted. Talk about some of the things that are the same and different for babies vs. older kids.

Each member of our family is special, has different jobs, and is important. We love our families!!! Encourage children to do nice things for their family members.

Thankful for my Family: Day Three

My Family Tree

Read books on families, including those about grandparents!

Talk about how we are thankful for our families and help children say, "I love my family."

Our families have Dads, Moms, brothers, and sisters, but we also have what is called extended families with people like grandpas and grandmas and aunts and uncles and cousins. Our family extends to all the people who love us and help take care of us.

Sing "A Happy Family," including parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.

A Family Tree
Print out the parts for this family tree craft. Cut out the tree and glue it onto a piece of construction paper. Help children to label all the members of their family, including parents and siblings, but also include grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins.


Photo Books
Look through family photo albums, helping children name members of his/her family. Help children make a photo album of their own.

Greeting Cards
Make greeting cards to send to different family members. Include questions for each family member that will help children learn about their family history.

We love our families!

Thankful for my Family: Day Two

All About My Family

Sing "A Happy Family"

Read some books about families. Have children say, "I love my family."

Print out these family member puppets. Let children color them to match their own family. Turn them into puppets and have children role play.


Play "Who Uses This?"
Gather items from around the house, belonging to each member of the family. Help children to sort them into piles, labeled with the family puppets. (Dad, Mom, Kyle, etc....) Try to have examples of the same item from each person, like clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, etc.


Photo Pairs
Print out doubles of pictures of each member of the family. Play Memory, matching up the same photos.

Books:

My Daddy Book
My Mommy Book

Family Portrait

Materials:

• Large white paper plates
• Yarn
• Crayons and markers

Directions:

• Let the children create a picture of their family on the inside of the plate. Then put holes in the sides of the plate and thread the yarn through it. Now you can hang the family portraits on the wall

Thankful for my Family: Day One

I Love My Family

Show a picture of a happy family-or several pictures of different families. What is a family?

Read some books about families.

Ask children about their families. Who is in your family? (Dad, Mom, siblings) What do you love about your family? Why are you thankful for your family?

Have children color this picture of family members. Print extra siblings, etc., to match each child's family make-up. Go through each family member and role play what each person would do.



Sing "A Happy Family." You can substitute children's names or customize the songs for each family.

Family Chain
Using the picture of family members the children colored, label members for each family and cut them out. Glue onto strips of construction paper.


Talk about how families love each other, are related, help each other, live together, and are part of one big chain. Make each strip into a ring and connect the mom and dad along with siblings for each family.

Family Collage
Look through magazines to find pictures of families or family members. Glue pictures onto a paper, making a family collage.

Help children say, "I love my family."

Halloween: Day Five

Field Trip Day

Have a Halloween Party:
Invite parents.
Have kids dress up in costumes--you could have a storybook character costume idea where kids bring the book that goes along with their character OR you could have some other theme for dressing up. Put on a play or parade of costumes.
Decorate Halloween-themed cookies.
Bob for Apples.
Go "trick-or-treating."
Make homemade Root Beer (witches brew) with dry ice. (More recipe ideas.)
Tell scary stories.
Decorate Pumpkins.

Let your imagination go wild.


OR

Take kids to a Halloween Activity in the community: trunk-or-treat, carnival, etc.

Halloween: Day Four

Spooky Spiders

Sing/Do actions to Itsy-Bitsy Spider. Have children copy your actions.

Make this Itsy-Bitsy Spider house to go along with the song:


More Activities for the Itsy-Bitsy Spider: Here

Read a book about spiders or go to KidZone Spiders for some pictures & spider facts.

Make this Spider Book.

Spider Art:

Handprint Spider: Dip child's hands in paint and print onto paper. (Or, make a photo copy of hands.) Cut out hand prints and glue them together onto cardstock, with the palms touching and the thumbs pointing down. Add googly eyes or draw in circles for eyes. Punch a hold through the center, tie on a string, and hang.



Thumbprint Spiders: Use an ink pad and let children make several thumbprints on a piece of paper. Draw in legs and black eyes. Add a spider web, too, or put your thumbprint spiders on this:

Yarn Spider Web





More Spider Songs:

I'm A Little Spider

(sung to I’M A LITTLE TEAPOT)

I’m a little spider, watch me spin!
If you'll be my dinner, I'll let you come in.
Then I'll build my web to hold you tight,
And gobble you up in one big bite!

The Spider In The Web

(sung to FARMER IN THE DELL)

The spider in the web, the spider in the web
Spin, spin, oh watch him spin
The spider in the web.

The spider eats a fly, the spider eats a fly
Spin, spin, oh watch him spin
The spider eats a fly.

(add other types of bugs for the spider to eat)

Author Unknown

Halloween: Day Three

Spooky Bats and Skeletons, Oh My!

Read some Halloween books with bats, skeletons, and other spooky Halloween themes.


Example:
Skeleton Bones and Goblin Groans...by Amy Sklanksky
(poems)

Halloween Wish
wish I may,
wish I might

See
a skeleton
tonight,

Walking tall
with bones
of white,

Dancing in
the pale
moonlight.

Wish i may,
wish I might

Have my wish
come true
tonight.

Sing Dem Bones, doing the actions of pointing to the different body parts.

Skeleton Art:
Spooky Skeleton Crafts
(toilet paper roll skeleton, cotton-swab skeleton, pasta skeleton, paper skeleton mobile, and more.)
Pipe Cleaner Skeleton

Make one of these Skeletons and attach the following poem:

Skeleton
Skull
mandible
sternum,
radius
clavicle
fibula.
Ribs
Scapula
pelvis.
Maxilla
humerus
tibia.

Two hundred six bones
make up me.
The same make up you,
but mine you can see!!!


Talk about how each of use has a skeleton under our skin. Make this X-ray craft of the rib cage:


Play:

Mr. Skeleton Where's Your Bone

One child (Mr. Skeleton) stands in the middle of the circle of children with eyes closed. With 24 children, I'd suggest having 3 or 4 Mr. Skeletons at a time in the middle of the circle with 3 or 4 bones passed out. Let the skeletons take turns guessing.

The children chant:

Mr Skeleton where's your bone?
Somebody stole it from your home.
Guess who? Maybe you!
Maybe a ghost from Kalamazoo
Now Mr. Skeleton find your bone!

While they are chanting the leader hands a "bone" (a pencil would work or you could cut a bone shape from cardboard) to one of the children. All the kids put their hands behind their backs and then Mr. Skeleton opens his eyes. He guesses who has the bone (you can either give three guesses and then he has to be Mr. Skeleton again if he guesses wrong or you can let them guess until they succeed). The person who had the bone becomes the new Mr. Skeleton.

BATS:

Show a picture of a bat. Bats are winged mammals that live in caves, sleeping during the day. They come out at night to hunt for food.

The Bat by Amy Sklansky

Upside down
hangs the bat

There's really nothing
wrong with that!

Have children flap wings like bats and move around the room as you chant:

Zip Zap Zoom
Bat flies across the moon.
Bib Bap Boom
Humming a silent tune.
Flip Flap Floom
Bat dives through evening air.
Dip Dap Doom
To land right in your hair!

Bat Art:

B is for Bats

Bat Trapezoid

Hand Print Bat or Here




More Bat Crafts at DLTK


Snacks:
Talk about how some bats eat fruit and nectar. Have pieces of fruit for children to eat, just like bats. Have cups of different types of fruit juice for the nectar.

Halloween: Day Two

Monsters and Ghosts

Read Halloween by Harry Behn or another book with reference to ghosts, goblins, and monsters.

Sing some Halloween songs.

What a Fright

(to the tune of: Pop Goes the Weasel)
Moans and Groans and Skeleton Bones, It's Halloween Toni_ght!
Shh! I fear a ghost is near,
BOO what a fright!
up the street we'll trick or treat,
we'll dance beneath the mo_onlight.
We'll beware if there's a scare
BOO what a fright!
Witches, cats and flapping bats
are bootiful tonight.
Never fear if goblins appear,
BOO what a fright!

Trick or Treat

(sung to JINGLE BELLS)

Dashing through the streets,
Meeting goblins as we go,
Wearing contour sheets,
Wishing it would snow.
Bells in doorways ring,
Making spirits bright,
What fun it is to trick or treat
And get some food tonight.

Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat we say!
Try to get the treats before the ghost takes us away!
Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat we say!
If you don't have treats for us we'll never go away!

Copyright Bob Tucker


In the Graveyard

(sung to MY DARLING, CLEMENTINE)

In the graveyard,
In the graveyard,
When the moon
Begins to shine,
There's a doctor,
Crazy doctor,
And his monster,
Frankenstein.

Oh, my monster,
Oh, my monster,
Oh, my monster,
Frankenstein,
You are very,
Very scary,
Don't come near me,
Frankenstein.

Words and Music By: Unknown
Adapted By: Terry Kluytmans

Copyright Terry Kluytmans

F is for Frankenstein.

Shape cut-and-paste Frankenstein.

Huge Frankenstein

MONSTERS!

Read Little Monsters by Pienkowski

Little Monsters

Materials:

• Paint
• Fat straws cut in half
• Construction paper
• Feathers
• Googly Eyes

What to do

• Squirt three colors of paint on a plain piece of paper. Take a fat straw and have your children through the straw causing the paint to spread. After the paint dries glue on eyes and feathers of choice. Looks good on black paper.

I'm a Monster!
by Nancy White Carlstrom
(tell this poem to the children and have them act it out)
I'm a monster--Be careful!
I'm a monster--I can scare you!
I'm a monster--If you let me
I'm a monster--I will get you
I'm a monster--In the mirror (EEEk!)
I don't really like what I see
Is that really me?
I'm a monster!
But please let me carry my mask!

Children can make monster masks out of paper plates. Punch holes in the sides and use string to tie around their heads.

GHOSTS:

Boo! Boo! Boo! What Will We Do?

(sung to UP ON A ROOFTOP)

All through the town floats monsters' breath,
Screams of horror, hints of death.
Down all the streets come the girls and boys
All dressed up for their haunting joys.

Chorus:
Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do?
Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do? Ooo
Try to enjoy this scary scene
And just relax, 'cause it's Halloween!!

Witches and goblins now fill the air,
Spiders crawl across your hair!
And every place that you try to hide
Soon there's a ghostie there by your side.

Chorus

There is a chill about this night
Your head starts ting-a-ling with fright.
In jack-o-lanterns' eerie glow
The vampires now start swooping low.

Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do?
Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do? Ooo
Try to enjoy this scary scene
And please come back next Halloween!!

Copyright Bob Tucker

Ghostie Feet

Materials:

• White Paint
• Googly eyes
• Black Construction paper

What to Do

• Let each child put their foot in white paint and make their footprint upside down on a piece of black paper. Glue googly eyes on the heel of the foot. Enjoy these ghostly feet.

Give each child a piece of white paper. Have them tear it up. Glue these pieces of torn paper to black construction paper. Add eyes and you have ghosts!!!!


Make ghost suckers by covering a lolli-pop with a white Kleenex. Tie a string around the neck. Use a black marker to make eyes.


Graveyard Dessert:

Put chocolate pudding in the bottom of paper cups. Give each child a milano cookie to use as a headstone. Let children sprinkle crushed Oreo cookies over the pudding to make "dirt." Add gummy worms and eat!

Halloween: Day One

Halloween Is....

Read One Witch by Laura Leuck

One witch on a hill had an empty pot to fill.
Two cats inside a pail gave the witch a fish's tail.
Three scarecrows stuffed with straw gave the witch a blackbird's claw.
Four goblins eating bugs gave the witch some slimy slugs.
Five vampires on the loose gave the witch some fresh blood juice.
Six mummies wrapped in cloth gave the witch a musty moth.
Seven owls wide awake gave the witch a rattlesnake.
Eight ghosts in the air gave the witch a hunk of hair.
Nine skeletons on a stone gave the witch a finger bone.
Ten werewolves in a group gave the witch some spider soup.

That witch with her stash began to plan her spooky bash.
She took her bag, dumped her haul, the sent her trusty bats to call....

ten werewolves in their caves,
nine skeletons in their graves,
eight ghosts where they rest,
seven owls in their nest,
six mummies in their tombs,
five vampires in their rooms,
four goblins in their holes,
three scarecrows on their poles,
two cats near their can,
as one witch then began
to mix and stir her oozing stew.
She boiled and burned her gurgling goo.
What did all her good friends do?
They came and ate that gruesome brew.

(Everybody loved in, too!)
They save the last bowl just for......

YOU!


Halloween is a fall holiday celebrated on October 31st. In ancient times, people believed witches, ghosts, and other spirits roamed the earth, casting spells and playing tricks on people. To blend in, people started dressing up in costumes and masks. Halloween eventually came out of these early traditions.

She'll be Riding on a Broomstick

(sung to SHE’LL BE COMING ‘ROUND THE MOUNTAIN)

We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.
We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.
We will warm up the big black kettle,
We will warm up the big black kettle,
We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.

She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.
She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.
She will cook small toads and spiders,
She will cook small toads and spiders,
She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.

We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes.
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes.
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins,
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins,
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes.

Copyright Bob Tucker

Sing Ten Little Witches
(tune of Ten Little Indians)
10 little witches....on brooms

substitute:
10 little pumpkins...in the patch
10 little scarecrows...on their poles
10 little black cats...in a can
10 little bats...soaring high

and many more!!!



One popular costume for Halloween is a witch.

W is for Witch Coloring Page


With Cut-and-Paste




Read Halloween is.....by Gail Gibbons
Halloween is...pumpkins, decorations, bats, black cats, skeleltons, scary story time, masks and costumes, too!


Talk about dressing up for Halloween. Ask children what they are going to be (or want to dress up as). Make a chart and compare the results. See if anyone will dress up as the same thing.

Make this Halloween costume book:
What Will You Be?

(Children will draw a picture of their costume on the last page.)


Play dress up with a variety of costumes, play clothes. Let children have fun pretending to be someone/something else.

Pumpkins: Day Five

Field Trip

Visit a local pumpkin patch, fall carnival, or farmer's market and let children select their own pumpkin to take home and carve.

Sing this song on the way:

I'm Picking out a Pumpkin

(to the tune of: I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee)
I'm picking out a pumpkin on a vine.
I want one big and fat and fine.
I'm picking out a pumpkin on a vine.
Oh, I see mine !

I'm pulling on a pumpkin on a vine.
I'ts so big and fat and fine!
I'm pulling on a pumpkin on a vine.
Snap, It's Mine!

Make some of these fun Pumpkin Recipes!

Pumpkin Pie in a Bag

Super Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Little Pumpkins Snack

Pumpkins: Day Four

Pumpkin Observations

Gather several pumpkins of different sizes, colors, etc.

Help children place them in order from largest to smallest, smallest to largest, group them by color, and other groupings.


Sing a pumpkin song:
TALL and small. (shout "tall" and reach up high/whisper "small" and reach down low)
We harvest pumpkins in the fall.

TALL and small
round and orange, we like them all!


Line up the pumpkins and start talking about several types of observations/measurements you will be doing with the pumpkins. (This could be done all together or each child could get their own pumpkin.)

Measure the pumpkins with pieces of yarn. Which is biggest around? Smallest?
Use a scale to compare the pumpkins' weights. Which is lightest? Heaviest?
Cut open a pumpkin and explore how the pulp looks, smells, and feels.
Save some seeds for roasting, some for planting, and some for counting.
Boil a few pieces of pumpkin. How does it change when cooked?
Cut chunks of pumpkin into shapes for dipping into paint and making prints.
Donate your carved pumpkins to a local zoo for hippo treats.

Sink or Float?

Find out if pumpkins sink or float. Fill a large tub with water. Have your children guess if the pumpkin will sink or float. Drop the pumpkin into the water and observe if it sinks or floats and if it floats which way. (The pumpkins should float)

Sink or Float Book

Weigh a Pumpkin

Bring in a bathroom scale and pumpkins of different sizes. Have your children estimate the weights of the pumpkins. Weigh the pumpkins and compare their weight to the guesses. You can also weigh ypur children and see if the are heavier or lighter than the pumpkins.


Record the measurements.

Measure and Compare Pumpkin Circumference

Measure the circumference of pumpkins with a yarn. Cut the yarn and tape to paper. If children have several different pumpkins, compare the lengths of the yarn pieces and talk about which pumpkins are smaller/larger. If each child has their own pumpkin, measure the pumpki and then compare that with the circumference of the childrens' waists.

Pumpkin Cutting and Sorting

Cut open a pumpkin and have your children separate the different parts- seeds, skin, inside strings

Pumpkin Seed Collage

Materials:

• Pumpkin Seeds
• Glue
• Construction paper

What to Do

• Encourage your children to use pumpkin seeds to create fall collages.

Pumpkin Stamping

Materials:

• Pumpkin
• Knife
• Toothpicks
• Paint
• Construction paper

Directions:

• Cut your pumpkins and use the pulp to make different stamps ex. Heart, circle, square. Stick a toothpick into the stamp and make a pumpkin picture.

After all these fun observations of pumpkins, let children make their own pumpkins with this:

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Ingredients:

• 5 1/2 C Flour
• 2 C salt
• 8 t Cream of Tartar
• 3/4 C oil
• 1 1/2 ounces pumpkin pie spice
• orange food coloring
• 4 C water

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until lumps disappear. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container.

Pumpkins: Day Three

Five Little Pumpkins & The Pumpkin Patch

Five Little Pumpkins Activity

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, "My it's getting late"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air"
The third one said, "But we don't care"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run"
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."
The "Whoooooosh" went the wind and out went the lights
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Five Little Pumpkins Book

Pumpkin Patch Page--Fill in the missing letters.

Pumpkin Shape Activity

My Pumpkin Book

After you have made the shape pumpkins, help children fill out the pages on this book.

Pumpkin Patch

Have children fill paper lunch sacks with pieces of crumpled newspaper. Secure each bag with a twist tie, leaving about 1 inch of the bag gathered at the top.

Then have the children paint the bottom parts to their bags orange and the gathered parts green to create pumpkins with stems. When the pumpkins have dried, string them all together with green yarn to make a "pumpkin patch."

Fingerpaint Pumpkins

Cut fingerpaint paper into pumpkin shapes. Give each child two colors of fingerpaint (red and yellow) to discover what the new color will be made.

COFFEE FILTER PUMPKINS
Color with red, brown, yellow, and orange watercolor makers on coffee filters.

Let your children fold round coffee filters into fourths and dip the edges into slightly diluted red food coloring, then into yellow food coloring. Have them continue folding and dipping until their filters are covered with red, yellow, and orange designs.

Allow the "pumpkins" to dry flat. Then help the children mount their pumpkins on white paper and add green stems.

PUMPKIN PATCHES
Invite your children to dip carrot rounds or corks into orange paint and make "pumpkin" prints on pieces of paper. When the paint has dried, have the children use green crayons or markers to connect their pumpkins with leafy vines.

Jack O' Lantern painting
Help your toddler paint a brown
paper bag with orange paint. Use
black pre-cut circles, squares, or
other shapes to paste a nose,
eyes, and mouth. Stuff the bag with
newspapers and close it with
green pipe cleaners.

Pumpkin Mask

Add all of the pumpkin art projects to a wall/bulletin board in your classroom to make a class pumpkin patch.